Singapore: April’s Art Must-Sees
ByTulika Ahuja'I Like Hanoi and Hanoi Likes Me' (2018) by Ben Puah. Image courtesy of the artist.
As April has rolled in, we’ve been in for a treat with the variety of art, music and entertainment on offer. With so many options all around, the list below should help you narrow down where to be.
Image courtesy of 1961 gallery, 2018.
1. Jost Münster: Flirt Tricks
German-born, London-based Jost Münster creates paintings and installations in wood, paint and paper. He works with layers, stripping away and adding materials to create conversations between the old and the new. His solo exhibition, opening on 21 April at 1961 gallery, concerns these connections between paintings and sculptures, and is a snippet into the generation of artists who push, pull, extend and test the boundaries of what a painting can be. Go with an open mind.
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Jost Münster: Flirt Tricks runs from 21 April through 16 June 2018. 1 - 6pm on Fridays and Saturdays, by appointment from Sunday to Thursday.
Opening event: Friday 20 April, 6-9pm
1961 is a project-based art space, located at #06-17, Oxley Bizhub 2, 62 Ubi Road 1.
Image courtesy of Mary Summerbell, 2018.
2. LASALLE MA Group Showcase 2018: Bit rot
This group show provides an insight into the emerging contemporary arts scene of Singapore today. The created works center around ‘bit rot’, or the phenomenon of data deteriorating over time on various forms of storage media. This theme is also a commentary on the fluidity of the process of art-making, and features many works that incorporate contingent structure and materials. The exhibition will feature a range of concepts, techniques and mediums including painting, drawing, sculpture and photography. Expect to see works by Didier Mathieu, Gemma Kearney, Green Zeng, Henry Lee, Hilmi Johandi, Liana Yang, Mary Summerbell, Hyung Min, Tan Ngiap Heng and Yen Phang.
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Bit rot runs from 21 April through 6 May 2018. 12:00pm – 7:00pm, Tuesdays to Sundays.
Opening event: Friday 20 April, 6.30 - 8.30pm
Exhibition tour: Saturday 5 May, 3:00 – 4:30 pm
The exhibition takes place at Gallery 1 Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, LASALLE, 1 McNally Street.
Image courtesy of the writer, 2018.
3. Knuckles & Notch: Photographs in Riso
Extending its run into April is local-Riso studio’s fourth year anniversary celebration exhibition that brings together photographs, books and prints all printed in Risograph. Riso printing is considered a cheaper form of photocopying, and is an automated quick printing method. The design and print studio has been experimenting with the medium to make its foray into the fine arts world. Their photographs on view do just that. The colours and textures make for a visual treat as well.
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Knuckles & Notch is open Tuesdays through Sundays. 11am - 8pm Tuesdays - Fridays, 12pm - 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
The exhibition is on view at 14A Bali Lane.
"Dapunta Mapping the Melayu" (2014) by Zai Kuning. Image courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, 2018.
4. Zai Kuning
“Zai Kuning”, the solo exhibition at Ota Fine Arts features an installation, sculptures and drawings made by the artist in recent years. A rare treat to have this collection of works on view, the exhibition invites the audience to absorb the conversation between the various materials and their presentations. The artist’s installation piece is is made up of rattan structures suspended in mid-air, bent and formed to resemble the skeleton of a ship and human ribs, connected by red wax strings to books encased in layers of beeswax, rested atop a reflective stainless steel and wooden base. This, and other drawing works shown in the exhibition, are largely informed by his ongoing research on the Orang Laut -- "sea gypsies" or nomadic indigenous fishermen living in the Riau Archipelago, whose lives are inextricably intertwined with the sea. Yet, societal developments have created external circumstances beyond their control, causing them to lose their homes.
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The exhibition runs from 14 April through 2 June, Tuesdays to Saturdays, 11am to 7pm.
Opening event on 14 April includes a performance by the artist from 6.30 - 8.30pm
The exhibition is on view at 7 Lock Road, #02-13.
Image courtesy of Independent Archive Ltd, 2018.
5. Ben Puah: I Like Hanoi and Hanoi Likes Me
In the seventeen years since Puah first fell in love with Hanoi, his perceptions and experiences of the city have been filtered through his characteristic mode of abstraction, yielding fresh perspectives of the capital of Vietnam. Following the tradition of artists ranging beyond their home countries in search of new experiences to inform their art, Vietnam occupies the imagination of Ben Puah in a similar fashion as Bali did for Liu Kang, or the Swiss Alps for J.M.W. Turner. Rather than some fantasy of ‘going native,’ these paintings on view capture the tension of growing ever closer to a place while being keenly aware that one can never truly be a part of it.
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The exhibition runs from 10 April until 9 May, 12noon - 6pm on weekdays. Weekends by appointment.
This exhibition takes place at Independent Archive Ltd, 71 Aliwal Street, #01-01.
Image courtesy of THEBOOKSHOW, 2018.
6. THEBOOKSHOW: New Margins
The Annual Book Show, a project aimed at pitching the relevance of a book as a work of art, returns on 20 April. This time, expect new works by artists GENEVIEVE LEONG, LOH XIANG YUN, and SHYUE WOON, who delve into the the human experience of encountering art. They strip away the traditional method of viewing art from a distance, and instead present an intimate encounter in place of a static, looming presence. New Margins invites its audience to engage and create a connection with the artists through their work, and maybe expand ways of seeing and viewing.
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New Margins runs from 21 - 28 April, 12pm - 7pm.
The exhibition opens on 20 April, 7pm onwards and features an exhibition tour by the artists.
The exhibition is on view at DECK, 120A Prinsep Street.
Any views or opinions in the post are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the company or contributors.
